USS Kearsarge (BB-5)
USS Kearsarge (BB-5), the
lead ship of
her class of
battleships, was the first ship of the
United States Navy to be named, by act of Congress, in honor of the famous
American Civil War sloop of war Kearsarge.Her keel was laid down by the
Newport News Shipbuilding Company of
Newport News, Virginia on
30 June 1896. She was
launched on
24 March 1898, sponsored by Mrs. Herbert Winslow, daughter-in-law of
Captain John A. Winslow, who had commanded the sloop
Kearsarge during her famous battle with
Alabama, and
commissioned on
20 February 1900 with Captain
William M. Folger in command.
Kearsarge became
flagship of the
North Atlantic Station, cruising down the
Atlantic seaboard and in the
Caribbean Sea. From
3 June 1903 to
26 July 1903 she served briefly as flagship of the
European Squadron while on a cruise that took her first to
Kiel, Germany. She was visited by Emperor
Wilhelm II of Germany on
26 June 1903 and by the
Prince of Waleson
13 July. She returned to
Bar Harbor, Maine, on
26 July 1903 and resumed duties as flagship of the North Atlantic Fleet. She sailed from
New York on
1 December 1903 for
Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, where on
10 December the United States took formal possession of the
Guantanamo Naval Reservation. Following maneuvers in the
Caribbean Sea, she led the
North Atlantic Battleship Squadron to
Lisbon, Portugal, where she entertained the King
Charles of Portugal on
11 June 1904. She next steamed to
Phaleron Bay, Greece, where she celebrated
the Fourth of July with King
George I of Greece and his son and daughter-in-law,
Prince Andrew of Greece and
Princess Alice of Battenberg. The squadron paid goodwill calls at
Corfu,
Trieste, and
Fiume before returning to
Newport, Rhode Island, on
29 August 1904.
Kearsarge remained flagship of the
North Atlantic Fleet until relieved
31 March by the battleship
Maine (BB-10), but continued operations with the fleet. During target practice off
Cape Cruz, Cuba, on
13 April 1906, an accidental ignition of a
powder charge of a 13-inch gun killed two officers and eight men. Four men were seriously injured. Attached to the Second Squadron, Fourth Division, she sailed on
16 December 1907 with the "
Great White Fleet" of battleships, sent around the world by
President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt. She sailed from
Hampton Roads around the coasts of
South America to the
Western seaboard, thence to
Hawaii,
Australia,
New Zealand, the
Philippines, and
Japan. From there,
Kearsarge proceeded to
Ceylon, transited the
Suez Canal, and visited ports of the
Mediterranean Sea, before returning to the
eastern seaboard of the
United States. Roosevelt reviewed the Fleet as it passed into the Hampton Roads on
22 February 1909, having completed a world cruise of overwhelming success, showing the flag. and spreading good will. This dramatic gesture impressed the world with the power of the U.S. Navy.
Kearsarge decommissioned at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard on
4 September 1909 for modernization. She recommissioned on
23 June 1915 for operations along the Atlantic coast until
17 September when she departed Philadelphia to land a detachment of
Marines at
Vera Cruz, Mexico. She remained off Vera Cruz from
28 September 1915 to
5 January 1916, then carried the Marines to
New Orleans, Louisiana, before joining the
Atlantic Reserve Fleet on
4 February 1916 at Philadelphia. She trained
Massachusetts and
Maine State
Naval Militia until America entered
World War I, then trained thousands of
armed guard crews as well as
naval engineers in waters along the East Coast ranging from
Boston, Massachusetts, to
Pensacola, Florida. On the evening of
18 August 1918,
Kearsarge rescued twenty six survivors of Norwegian
barque Nordhav which had been sunk by the
German Submarine U-117. The survivors were landed in Boston.
Kearsarge continued as engineering training ship until
29 May 1919 when she embarked
United States Naval Academy midshipmen for training in the
West Indies. The midshipmen were debarked at
Annapolis, Maryland, on
29 August and
Kearsarge proceeded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she decommissioned on
10 May 1920 for conversion to a
crane ship and a new career. She was given
hull classification symbol AB-1 on
5 August 1920.
In place of military trappings,
Kearsarge received an immense revolving crane with a rated lifting capacity of 250 tons, as well as hull "blisters," which gave her more stability. The 10,000-ton crane ship rendered invaluable service for the next twenty years. One of many accomplishments was the raising of sunken
submarine Squalus off the
New Hampshire coast. On
6 November 1941 she was renamed
Crane Ship No. 1, allowing her illustrious name to be given to an
aircraft carrier,
CV-12, and later to
CV-33. But she continued her yeoman service and made many contributions to the American victories of
World War II. She handled guns, turrets, armor, and other heavy lifts for new
battleships such as
Indiana (BB-58) and
Alabama (BB-60), new
cruisers
Savannah (CL-42) and
Chicago (CA-29), and guns on the veteran battleship
Pennsylvania (BB-38).
In 1945, the crane ship was towed to the
San Francisco Naval Shipyard where she assisted in the construction of carriers
Hornet (CV-12),
Boxer (CV-21), and re-construction of the
Saratoga (CV-3). She departed the West Coast in 1948 to finish her career in the
Boston Naval Shipyard. As
Crane Ship No. 1, her name was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register 22 June 1955. She was sold for scrapping
9 August 1955.
Kearsarge was the only US battleship not named after a state.
See
USS Kearsarge for other ships of this name.
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Maritimequest USS Kearsarge BB-5 Photo Gallery*[
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